Articles

Researchers have used mathematical modelling to develop techniques to combat two co-infecting viruses causing maize lethal necrosis (MLN) in Kenya. According to researchers who conducted the new study, because maize is a staple crop in ...

Just over an hour’s drive from London, down winding lanes lined with oak and beech trees, lies a concrete and glass building housing scientists tasked with a Herculean mission — to safeguard the future of food. The Kew Millennium Seed ...

Take part in our online debate that will take place on this page on 9 June starting at 1pm British Summer Time (GMT+1). Over two hours, our expert panel will help steer a discussion on why farmers in developing countries are not improving ...

The land conversion of coconut gene banks located in research farms across the Asia-Pacific threatens the future of coconut diversity, researchers warn. A coconut gene bank in Indonesia was recently converted into a racetrack while another in Samoa ...

The day I first set foot in a tropical rainforest, in Malaysia in the early 1980s, I experienced something profound. From the echoes of gibbons calling from the canopy in the early morning mist to the iridescent flash of a bird in a beam of ...

The global threat that insecticides pose for aquatic biodiversity has been revealed in a recent modelling study that pinpoints areas at greatest risk. The mapping exercise conducted by the researchers reveals that aquatic life in water bodies ...

The recently launched irrigation and hydropower Olmos megaproject in Peru is hailed a ‘masterpiece of engineering’ aimed at stimulating rural development — but some fear the initiative will mostly benefit big companies. The ...

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest fell by 18 per cent this year, according to official government figures, but some experts are surprised by the news and fear the true trend remains upward. The estimated area of forest cleared in ...

During the opening ceremony of the COP 20 climate conference, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, remarked that the bustling halls and sun-drenched grass patches of the conference site were set ...

The community seed bank in Chefe Donsa, a village two hours’ drive east of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, collects and preserves the seeds of local crops to ensure farmers have a steady supply of seeds to sow each year. The Chefe Donsa ...

In this film, as part of our series Africa’s PhD renaissance, scientist Nina Wambiji talks about how the support she has received from AWARD (African Women in Agricultural Research and Development) has helped her become a leading researcher in ...

In this interview, Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg, director of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development fellowship programme in Kenya, talks about AWARD’s work supporting the careers of female agricultural scientists across ...

In the global drive to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, REDD+ transactions have become prominent. REDD+ stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation plus safeguards, such as transparent governance and respect for indigenous ...

In August, India’s ruling nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stopped its legislators from accepting Monsanto sponsorship to attend a farm exhibition in the US state of Iowa. On the surface this might seem strange: attending the Farm ...

New evidence shows that arguments against GM crops are unfounded, says Margaret Karembu. The year 2013 marked the 18th consecutive year of commercial cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or now commonly referred to as biotech crops. ...

It may be a win-win situation: treating seeds with commercially available growth promoters before planting could have the added benefit of attracting parasitic wasps that feed on caterpillar pests, suggests a study. The protective effect of these ...

As executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Achim Steiner has been at the forefront of international conferences on environment and sustainable development, including the Rio+20 conference in June 2012. SciDev.Net ...

Bangladesh is a land of rivers, but changing climate has caused a third of the country’s more than 300 large rivers to disappear. The rivers are drying out as a result of barriers built upstream to divert water and protect people from floods ...

Can science meet the demand for more diverse and nutritious food? Jan Piotrowski investigates. The riots that swept Africa in 2007 and 2008 in response to the spiralling costs of staple crops brought the effects of food shortages into sharp focus. ...